Pep Guardiola: football's J.K. Rowling

Pep Guardiola reels into the Catlunya spring sunset punch-drunk, deserving a rest, his job well done. Most agree that he's likely to take a significant break from management – perhaps an eternal one – before moving back to the scrutiny of club control.

To witness the change inhis appearance from appointment to last week's press conference is to see what daily hour-long media sessions will do to a man. He looks exhausted, has lost a considerable amount of weight and what remains of his hair is prematurely grey.

In many ways, I hope he chooses not to manage again. Particularly, I hope not to see him at a different, less stressful club. This may seem odd, given his record of dignified success; however, for him to return would be to risk a legacy which now stands unparalleled. He's won everything there is and leaves the game at his own discretion. To come back would not gamble his reputation; he will always be loved in Catalunya. But neither would – or could – it achieve anything of real substance. Those who suggest he's yet to assemble his own squad, or should attempt management overseas to complete his resume are snidely ungenerous.

He is/was great; he now moves forward. A four year term helming the greatest club side in memory saw him astride the world; to return from this break to boss a different club would subvert his stature as a Catalan deity, achieved the remarkable with his hometown club. His narrative shouldn't need to rely on piffling things like football management for completion. He is regarded at a different level from every other manager; his story becomes infinitely more compelling by refusing to countenance further management jobs.

That he represents a standard of Catalunyan success and pride that transcends sport, leads me to remember the legacy of “Rocket” Richard.

The image to the right best exemplifies what Richard means to the Quebecois: this representation is one of a parade of Quebec heroes that stops Montreal, QC every St. John Baptiste Day.

His tale also mimics that of J.K. Rowling, the Omnipresence ruling over the magical (and tremendously marketable) world of Harry Potter. After suffering several high-profile bouts with writers' block and sustaining excellence and interest in teen writing for a decade, it was only fair to expect her to withdraw somewhat to recuperate. Her novels were so comprehensively successful – on every level – that she had achieved all she could.

Rowling announced last year that she was returning to the computer to write a new, adult novel (who features a major character named Barry!) due for release in September this year. Her background, audience and profit margin are nonpareil; to return to a different genre invites criticism. “The Casual Vacancy” will break all sales records, but will never be as well-received as Potter.

A craven viewpoint? Perhaps. But rather than seeing Guardiola (or even Rowling) return, I prefer the romantic narrative of someone leaving, and moving on. For Rowling, the case is exceptional – she feels she has a story to tell. “Artistic integrity”, that most nebulous of concepts, demands producing not what is expected, but representations of what moves one at the time. Guardiola, however tactically and interpersonally adept, is less artisan than mathematician. His integrity shouldn't compel him to return to management but to seek the next steps of a journey of exploration.

MLS welcomes the Impact; Montreal unlikely to host Ching

Obviously it's hard to predict how a club will perform throughout their first season of Major League Soccer - there are simply too many variables to make prophecy a worthy exercise. Today though, we begin to take stock of exactly what Montreal can expect to achieve given the players they selected in the MLS Expansion draft.

The Impact selected some quality players for their own use, some for leverage purposes and others simply to on-trade. It was puzzling that they left good (and cheap) prospects like Mike Fucito alone. They, like the Whitecaps last year and Philadelphia before that, chose to ignore some high profile (read: expensive) guys like Freddy Adu and Jonathon de Guzman, preferring to focus on supplementing their NASL quality with legitimate CONCACAF talent.

Public and pundit response has been mostly positive - especially given the calibre of player left unprotected by the established eighteen MLS franchises. Reaction has been fair, with the selection of former US men's national team forward Ching by far the most debated business item. As the draft was structured, the Impact simply had to select the Houston forward regardless of his threats to retire. Doing so put the Impact - and coach Jesse Marsch - in a bargaining position where they hold all the cards.

The purpose of Expansion Drafts is not to provide the bulk of a team's roster for the future. Were a club coach to take that approach, the club becomes mired in youthful mistakes and that coach is fired. The best strategy to take is to focus on acquiring serviceable starters without stretching for salary or the future.

It is rare that expansion draftees last for the long-term at a club: three of the Sounders taken in 2008 now remain in Seattle. Two initial Union draftees still reside in Philadelphia only two seasons into that club's MLS existence. Of last year's Expansionistas, three sapling Timbers are still in Portland while the Whitecaps finished with five of their initial ten.

courtesy: yanksarecoming.com

Whoever sticks - perhaps Sanna Nyassi, Justin Mapp or Zarek Valentin - can be joined by Impact players who've competed well in Gold Cups and attempt the step up. The new boys have high hopes for new signings like Nelson Rivas and Evan Bush. Perhaps Marco Materazzi, Luca Toni or SuperPippo Inzaghi could bowl up in Little Italy as well.

It's not the place of Expansion Drafts to provide the basis for future success, only for stability and to give the incoming club some assets that aren't initially super out-of-pocket expenses. In following this principal, the Impact came out winners from today's draft.

Montreal Canadiens vs Boston Bruins the Austin Powers NHL playoff matchup

Part 4 of our continuing series: An Australian on Ice Hockey.

Part 1: You make excuses for the Habs

Part 2: NHL All-Star Game shakeup a great idea

Part 3: Chara's Pacioretty hit means a lot for NHL - and pro sport

Part 5: The Psychology of Choking

When it comes to sporting rivalries, the Canadiens/Bruins East coast hockey rivalry is amongst the most intense, challenging perhaps only the Spanish Clasico and Glasgow's Old Firm derby. Understandable too: both are "Original Six" franchises - one of the six teams who sustained the foundling NHL from 1943-1967 when the league first expanded. Both have had amongst the game's most iconic players - from the Bruins' Bobby Orr (inexplicably selected by insert redneck adjective here Don Cherry as the best hockey player ever - I'm not debating he's good, just that Gretzky was better) to the Habs' Maurice Richard.

Both teams are ranked first and fourth on the all-time list of Stanley Cup champions and both haven't won the big shamu since the early nineties. This matchup sees Montreal, one of the world's best-looking cities (seriously guys, if you're single, MTL's the place to be), playing a seven-game series against the ugliest city - and we're not talking landscapes here - on the face arse of the planet, Boston, only six hundred kilometres away. Both teams feature supporters who struggle to pronounce lots of common English words. To quote Doctor Evil - "we're not so different, you and I".

And they've got recent history too. When Zdeno Chara put Max Pacioretty into the turnbuckle at the Bell Centre in March, any recent thawing of relations went out the window. The hit - resulting in a fractured C4 vertebra for the Hab youngster - reverberated not just around the Bell Centre boards but the NHL, prompting calls for new concussion protocols and to protect the head. It was announced Chara would be investigated by the Montreal Police department, but thte SPVM is yet to draw any conclusions. In the midst of a controversial year, the Habs won the season-series 4-2 but lost the Division to their rivals.

What's amusing (and mildly surprising) is that similarities between the cities don't just end with their hometowns. Both clubs rely on their Vezina trophy-nominated goaltenders (Carey Price and Tim Thomas) and both clubs have a fleet of busy skaters, rather than sublimely-skilled ones: Montreal will pit Mike Cammalleri, Brian Gionta and Thomas Plekanec against a (probably slightly better) Bruin forward core of Milan Lucic, Nathan Horton and Patrice Bergeron. Both sides have strength in depth, rather than in superstars. The Bruins' don't counterpunch like the Habs, but that's a result of yet more injuries to Hab defencemen. While not a vintage year for either squad, this could be each team's most successful playoff run for nearly two decades. In the words of the Highlander - there can be only one.

It could be that - good-looking women apart - the cities are rivals not just because of their clashes during the 1970s and before, but because each city was the jewel in their country's crown until recent times. There are a lot of similarities between both cities: a working-class city dotted with pockets of "old money"; a history of sporting success; decreasing global importance and the fans' appreciation for hard work and spunk. Boston and Montreal will continue to fight it out on the ice.

And, as fans, we love it.

Chara's Pacioretty hit means a lot for NHL - and all pro sport

Part 3 of our continuing series: An Australian on Ice Hockey.

Part 1: You make excuses for the Habs

Part 2: NHL All-Star Game shakeup a great idea

Part 4: Canadiens vs. Boston the Austin Powers NHL Playoff matchup

Part 5: The Psychology of Choking

The sickening hit Zdeno Chara delivered to Max Pacioretty last week has escaped further sanction as debate continues over the Bruin defenceman's intent. The Montreal Canadiens, up 4-0 against divisional arch-rival Boston, lost one of their developing stars as 22 year-old Pacioretty was checked face-first into the turnbuckle, an area of the boards present in every hockey arena where the protective glass surrounding the ice takes a right-hand turn to allow for the player benches. The impact caused Pacioretty to suffer a fractured vertebra and severe concussion. Chara's penalty was classified as "major" and resulted in five minutes in the penalty box; it was also revealed late last week that Montreal Police have been asked to investigate if there are grounds for criminal prosecution.

Should Chara have been suspended for his action? Almost every NHL commentator and analyst has suggested the incident was unfortunate rather than malicious and as a result, the 6'9 Slovakian's on-ice conduct shouldn't be subjected to further inquiry. Pacioretty has said he wanted the Bruins' captain suspended but not charged criminally but NHL refereeing experts have trotted out the same platitudes: he's not that kind of player, he was just doing his job, it's hockey - these things happen.

But Chara should be punished. This isn't a Canadiens fan ranting at another perceived injustice at the hands of Boston, but simply an example of hockey becoming a microcosm of life. Chara - admittedly - was doing his job in taking an interference penalty to slow down a Hab break. But he did so clumsily and as a result, a player was seriously injured. Anyone who drives a car must accept the consequences of clumsy driving, be they suspensions, jail time or human costs. Chara, the largest player in the NHL, must accept responsibility for the results of his actions.

Just as when Sidney Crosby received two hits against the Tampa Bay Lightning in a January 5 match which cost him the season , a puck-playing skater has been hurt by the actions of a player who "played the man, not the ball". And as head injuries are forced to the forefront of sports administrators, hits to the head like this must stop or else leagues will find themselves in highly actionable positions.

As concussions become an increasingly large headache - pun intended - for hockey, the game's administrators, coaches and players all need to take actions to decrease the number of head injuries sustained. In all of America's major sports, concussions form a large portion of all injuries suffered and the NFL, NBA and NHL are now approaching the point where a standard concussion protocol is instituted meaning clubs, coaches and players have no say in remaining on the field. In this case, if the right boxes are checked, the concussed player is removed from the game.

This standardised concussion protocol is a big topic for NFL and now NBA franchises. After the spate of highly-rated NHLers being taken out and subsequently missing large chunks of time, it will soon be the same for hockey. It's insufficient to take an incident - or even fighting - and say "That's just hockey". For years, helmet-to-helmet contact has been "just football" and now more and more players, administrators and fans are becoming aware of the serious dangers of repeated blows to the head. The cost, both physical and financial has become too great.

Every single person involved in the NHL has a duty of care to the players. It simply doesn't do to have the game's biggest star MIA for six months (and allegedly considering retirement) because "that's just hockey". No one - fans, players or owners - should be robbed of Sidney Crosby for that long because of an avoidable incident. The same is true of Pacioretty: Canadiens fans shouldn't be wondering if he will ever be the same after his horrible injury.

It behoves the NHL to protect their players - their greatest asset - and as such, hits like those of suffered by Pacioretty and Crosby must stop. Outside the arena, the oft-touted example is that of the road-user: when getting behind the wheel of a car, a motorist takes upon themselves a duty of care for other road users. Should you run a red light with no-one around, chances are you will not be punished. Should the consquences of your running the red light be a car accident and a death, then you find yourself at the mercy of a jury of your peers facing serious driving offences. Sport doesn't happen in a vacuum - it reflects the mores of outside society and as such, on-field violence must be curbed.

When you watch the video again and again, you can tell (1.53) that Zdeno Chara knew exactly where he was on the ice when he shoved Pacioretty. He was aware they were near the turnbuckle and was faced with a decision - do the team thing or pull out and hit later. Either it didn't register or he didn't care that Pacioretty faced serious injury which makes his actions not necessarily malicious but negligent in any duty of care he has to fellow professionals. This lack of care in itself should be a sanctionable offence. Given the anti-concussion ruckus is (understandably) player-driven, it makes no sense at all - and is at worst hypocritical - for an athlete to cry foul about head injuries then go out and forcibly and negligently make contact with an opponent's head.

In Australia, the AFL has put into place a framework for administering justice to players where there is minimal room for personal opinion. Any hit is judged as negligent, reckless or intentional; contact is graded as mild, moderate or severe and the location of contact to the opponent's body is also considered. The severity of the injury isn't taken into consideration per se, but given the impact is acknowledged it falls under that category. Repeat offenders are given a percentage loading for past offences. Although inflexible, it has made every player in the league aware that their actions have consequences and as such, concussions have fallen markedly. It is time that such a framework is instituted in American professional sports before a player is hurt more seriously than even Crosby and Pacioretty.

Proessional sport in the USA needs to raise it's conscious levels about concussions lest they find themselves in a litigious position. The excuse that "hockey/football's always been played that way" is bunk: though the collisions have always been there, the athletes our society now produces are a relatively novel phenomenon and the athlete/collision combination (generally) causes greater damage than in days past. If this is not corrected, then sport will suffer due to the lack of stars available.

You make excuses for the Habs

Part 1 of a new continuing series: An Australian on Ice Hockey.

Part 2: NHL All-Star Game shakeup a great idea

Part 3: Chara's Pacioretty hit means a lot for NHL - and pro sport

Part 4: Canadiens vs. Boston the Austin Powers NHL Playoff matchup

Part 5: The Psychology of Choking

This isn't an easy admission to make: I actually quite like the Montreal Canadiens. In point of fact, I have chosen to ignore all the balanced tendencies in my nature and throw my ample frame onto the Habs band-wagon. It's not an easy admission because, as an Australian living in Montreal, it just doesn't feel right supporting a club simply because everyone else does. It's hard to ignore the Habs. Actually, to be blunt, you make excuses for the Habs.

I moved to Montreal about eighteen months ago, just before the 2009 NHL playoffs where the Canadiens missed the postseason and la Quebecois(e) were forced to endure a Pittsburgh/Detroit Stanley Cup Finals. But still everyone wore their shirts - if you entered any bar without looking at the screens, you'd've thought the Canadiens were playing. Red and blue jerseys or shirts are fashion statements. I've lost count of the number of Canadiens logos I've seen tattooed onto naked Quebecois skin. Life doesn't so much revolve around the NHL however, life revolves around the Montreal Canadiens.

No problem, I think, I'm used to a sports-crazed environment: I come from Melbourne. Wrong. Back home, as AFL-crazed as it is, you have variety. Here, there is none. In Australia - even other major North American cities - you have a choice as to which sport to follow: baseball, football, basketball, soccer or hockey. Not in Montreal. Not in Quebec. Here, you follow hockey. More than that, you follow the Montreal Canadiens.

The Habs are team who've had a lot of past success. They've won 22 Stanley Cup trophies as NHL Champions and are very proud to count themselves one of the "Original Six" franchises who were founder members of the NHL (alongside the similarly arrogant Toronto, Boston, New York, Detroit, Chicago and Philadelphia).

The Habs are, to coin a phrase, the Collingwood of the NHL. To draw another sporting parallel, they resemble Liverpool: a marked amount of success - the most ever, actually - followed by a recent dry spell causing native unrest. They haven't won the title since 1993 and I arrived as Montreal cleared out their older stars - Alex Kovalev & Saku Koivu especially - to make way for younger players like Scott Gomez and Mike Cammalleri. There remains that same sense of entitlement in Habs fans as there is with those two football clubs: Quebec regards the success of their hockey franchise their personal birthright. They deserve to be the best because they've (almost) always been the best. It's a flawed argument, but you make excuses for the Montreal Canadiens.

Part of this is down to the extraordinary players that the Montreal Canadiens have been blessed with over their hundred-year history. The names simply roll off the tongue: Guy LaFleur. Henri Richard. Patrick Roy. Maurice "The Rocket" Richard. Some of these players would walk into any All-Time NHL teams. Maurice Richard is widely considered the best Right-Wing of all time (as well as major rallying-point for the Francophone community - and indeed the "Quebec for the Francophones" movement). The club has been blessed with talent throughout it's lifespan (and until recent times, most of the top-tier French Canadian talent) so that the current sixteen-year title drought is the longest yet endured and the locals grumble.

The symbiotic relationship between the fans and the Canadiens is actually quite an horrifyingly beautiful thing. In its own way the city finds ways both to support the players and to tear them down. It is/was often said of AFL club Richmond that they "eat their own" and the same adage reflects the Montreal Canadiens. Should a player perform well in one game then he is feted as one of the league's best. But If he follows this successful game with a failure then local sports talkback stations are flooded with fans screaming for his head or other appropriate trade benefits.

The vitriol is especially severe for anglophone Canadians with current starting goaltender Carey Price bearing the brunt of harsh demotic attacks. This is in part due to his past tendency to complain to the media and in equal part because he hails from Vancouver and speaks only a modicum of la Francais.

In a recent survey it was found that New York was the toughest city in which to play throughout North American sports. The Big Apple brought big spotlights: knowledgeable fans, massive media glare and an enormous fan base. If a player underperforms in New York, there is scant hope of hiding no matter how big the city is. That is, the survey went on to say, unless hockey is your sport. In that case, Montreal wins, hands down. The only outlier to this study were the players of the Montreal Canadiens; men who undergo more fan/popular pressure as a result of where they play than any other in North America. You make excuses for the Habs.

So why do I enjoy them as a team? Partly because I've seen them more than most. Partly because I like the style in which they play. I guess, though, it's because during my time here I've really enjoyed being part of a community. During the Habs' 3-2 loss to rivals Ottawa on Saturday, I was in a bar with about fifty other patrons. When the Habs scored everyone cheered. When Ottawa scored, everyone sighed and refilled their beer glasses. In a city where the language proves a barrier for so many people, finding common ground can be difficult. That common ground is often the Habs: you make excuses for the Habs.

Last season's magical playoff run probably exemplifies this best. Montreal, after losing their best defenseman and playmaker for long stretches during the season, crept into the eighth Eastern Conference playoff place. They then went on a crazy run, dismissing the 1st-seeded Washington Capitals and the 3rd-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins in the second round. Never before have I (or possibly will I) see an entire city so united around the achievements of a sports team. Rather than displaying their route number and destination, every city bus showed only "GO HABS GO". Every last bar on the island of Montreal and probably the entire province was stocked to the gills with supporters cheering on the team of la belle province.

Led by goalkeeper Jaroslav Halak, the Habs played such a terrier-like game that even I, who values sensibility in sports, had to join the throng. Essentially playing rope-a-dope, Montreal absorbed as much pressure as their opponents could dish out and then out-skated the best two teams in the East. The best two hockey players in creation were sent home by the Habs. Another blow to The Man from the put-upon principality, another step along the road to freedom. The cliches ran wild: "The little (red) engine that could". "Not the size of the (red) dog in the fight, it's the size of the fight in the (red) dog". "We believe". Even editors (including mine) make excuses for the Habs.

If you were outside and Montreal scored a goal, you could hear it - first the shouts from the plasma-screen hoi polloi followed very shortly by an almost-deafening scree of car horns. I was working in sales at the time in a sixty-person office. We had a bell to be rung only in the event of a sale. We weren't very good and as a result we heard that bell a maximum of three times per week. Except when the Habs won a playoff game: then it was rung first thing the following morning. You make excuses for the Montreal Canadiens. The entire city of Montreal - the entire province of Quebec - stood behind the Habs to the point that win, lose or overtime, fans rioted down the main street. When one storeowner complained, he was told by police "It's your fault, you're only nine blocks from the Bell Centre". You make excuses for the Habs.

How can you not love the passion? Surely that's what sport is all about!? No matter how much I look at sport from a cynical and (allegedly) even-handed point of view, you make excuses for the Habs. I admire the way that Mike Cammalleri plays. I'm sad that they traded Halak, but am pleased that Carey Price has the chance to make the Montreal net his own. Sincerely, it's just sport and I happen to like the way that the Canadiens play. Sport shouldn't be a rallying-point for a political cause, nor should it be an excuse to be extremely crappy to one another. Simply following a cause isn't a reason for excusing poor or boorish behaviour but all too often that proves true.

You shouldn't make excuses for that.

Quebec Saints win the OAFL Grand Final

OAFL Division 2 Grand Final 2010

After a season on the road which included seven round-trips to Toronto and two to their “home” venue in Ottawa, the Quebec Saints have repeated as Division 2 Premiers in the Ontario Australian Football League. The kilometres travelled were well worth the celebration as the Newest Club in Canada – sporting a roster containing only five of last year's premiership players – convincingly outplayed the Central Blues in what proved a hard-fought and remarkably intense encounter.

Both teams made several changes for the Decider. For the Blues, tall midfielder Carl Hastrich proved the major inclusion while the Montrealers welcomed back four who missed the Semi-Final due to injury: the erratic but athletic Nico Pouessel, tough-as-nails defender Lachy Trumble, playmaker Kyle Graham and big man James-Robert Theis.

The Blues, who began the season on paper as many's tip to win the Division, were ultimately unable to repel the forward-sweeping forays of the Saints. Early in the first term it became apparent that the Saints were more adept in the wet, greasy conditions and were playing high on confidence after their ten-goal Second Semi Final win against Central. Even with the Blues playing a loose man in defense for the majority of the quarter the ball remained in the Blues' defensive half with the Saints half-back line pushing up and preventing the ball being moved into the Blues forward zone; with Trumble and “Eddy Baby” Duff marshaling the defence, the Blues forwards looked overmatched and unable to stamp their influence on the game.

The Saints though were unable to convert their midfield dominance and forward pressure into a sizable lead on the scoreboard; the first goal came at the ten minute mark when Pouessel snapped truly from 25 metres. Although they ended the quarter with only the one major, the Saints looked confident moving into the second term as Darrin Haverhoek was typically effective at the contest and able to get free into open spaces in order to use his devastating footskills. As per usual, Ryan Oxley set the tone for the Quebec side with his willingness to put his head over the ball and make the extra handpass.

The second quarter was astonishingly similar to the first. After his sublime performance as a leading forward in the Second Semi, captain Mat Wilson found himself subdued early by the double-teaming Blues defenders. This in turn left Theis and the late-arriving Cam Beaman single-covered and the half-forward line became the strength the Saints set about exploiting. Big Jim was superb in retrieving the contested ball and while Beaman didn't take the marks that have made him among the Division B&F's top vote-winners, he provided a strong body and won the ball often at ground level, while frequently being the target of several high contacts. Excellent forward pressure came from Dan Barker and Mark Morin, while Duff, Greg Bretiere and Jason Hodgson in the backline had the measure of their Central opponents. Again the Saints were inaccurate – and occasionally selfish – in front of goal but they managed another major through Theis and the favourites went into half-time up 2.6 to 0.1.

The Premiership Quarter belonged to the Province of Quebec. The Blues tried valiantly to even up the midfield matchups in the third quarter, but to no avail. Although coming off a down year, ruckman Matt Wood used deft touches to bring Graham, Pouessel and Haverhoek first use of the ball. They found the mad Irishman Ronan Shaughnessy and Oxley willing targets on the wings who then proceeded to tear the Central defence to shreds with raking, accurate entries into the forward 50. Confident they'd quelled Wilson, Blues coach Jaye Macumber chose to double-team the dangerous Beaman and almost instantly the Saints found Wilson leading strongly three times for two Captain's conversions. Shaughnessy then kicked the goal of the day while trapped in the right forward pocket, slotting it through after shrugging off two tackles. After weeks of stressing the importance of shepherding and protecting the ball carrier, the Blues were clearly unable to cope with the work ethic of a Saints team who for most of the season have looked much more comfortable offensively than defensively. The Premiership Quarter produced five Saints goals to one.

As the teams broke for three quarter time, the Blues were obviously rattled. They'd kicked one goal for the match via a 50-metre penalty and were looked very ragged. One of the Saints' bright hopes for the future Lagace came into the game in the second half as a sweeper and was able to produce run and stability from half back. As the minutes ticked away, the Saints coaches were able to relax until the final siren sounded with the Saints victorious 9.7.61 to 2.1.13. Haverhoek tireless performance on the ball saw him voted the Best on Ground, while retiring Coach and Administrator couple Luke and Dani Anderson were fittingly, charmingly chaired from the field.

Quebec Saints AFC 1.4 2.6 7.7 9.7.61

Central Blues AFC 0.0 0.1 1.1 2.1.13

Best: (Que): Haverhoek, Oxley, Duff, Shaughnessy, Poussel, Graham, Beaman.

Best: (Cen): Macumber, Gibson, Hastrich, Monero.

Goals: (Que): Wilson, Haverhoek, Shaughnessy 2, Oxley, Pouessel, Theis.

Goals: (Cen): Monero, Fraser.